"Gunnard", Neil Thielke,
December 2006
Sunday I took Gunnard, my cat, to church. It was our annual Christmas program where individual families bring something to share. So I brought Gunnard... So you might think what could Gunnard possibly have to do with Christmas?
We see many cats around the world. Here are a couple
in
I'll make you a deal you can't refuse . . ..
Beautiful kitty and caretaker
After seeing such beautiful cats as we travel, why
would we take in a stray? Last winter we had a pane of glass out on the west side
of the garage under a roofed area that I store my boat in. Throughout the
winter I would hear this scrambling sound once in a while when I went into my
garage. I figured it was a cat but not once did I see it.How
could you not see a cat run through your garage? Well, if it was my
friend’s garage, I could see why you would ask the question. My friend
keeps his garage spotless and you could see a mouse run any where in the
place. On the other hand, my garage is STUFFED with things that I need. I
do hog roasts, guide canoe trips to the Canadian wilderness, weld and fix my
own equipment. I have woodworking machines as well as the wood and supplies to
work with. And I am the son of a line of farming survivors of the dirty
thirties- we keep everything because “You might need it some day”-
so my garage has all this stuff that I just may need in case of a possible
hardship some day and I am just too busy to re-arrange it all.In
the spring we had a young man living in the apartment in our basement and,
unbeknown to us, he began to catch sight of the cat early in wee hours of the
morning when he returned home from work. He befriended the cat and started to
feed it some scraps. So the cat made its appearance during the day and Ruth and
I discovered it. We called the kitty over to us and started to pet it. He was
very friendly jumping up on my lap and pushing his big head under my chin and
PURRING loudly. He also was very skinny from the foraging he had to do to
survive over the winter. Temperatures got to -20F and the wind howls here in
west/central
The stray from our garage
I called our friend Linda from the humane society and lined up a pick up for the stray. Linda said that she would pick him up after the weekend. In the meantime, the cat would come around for food and petting. Ruth named the cat “Gunnard”. By now you can see the trap was laid.When Linda came for Gunnard she said that the humane society was filled to capacity with cats at the moment and that Gunnard would have to be a foster cat after his shots and neutering. We volunteered to be a temporary foster home for Gunnard until a home was located and the trap quickly snapped shut behind us. The shots and neutering cost $80- which we were told was a good deal since the vet is a volunteer for the humane society. By the time Gunnard arrived back at our house for foster care Ruth and I had already decided to keep him- even though we already had one cat. So we paid off Linda the $80 ($80 for a cat- My grandfather would roll over in his grave!) and possessed Gunnard for our very own.Here are 3 lessons we have learned from having Gunnard:1) Gunnard spent the whole winter in my garage as a stray. Humankind before Jesus had all gone astray too (“All we like sheep have gone astray”). We are just like Gunnard prior to knowing the Lord- skinny, scruffy and “free”. When we come to the Lord we entrust our lives to him and come under his authority and peace. We also come into his supply. Jesus came to make a way (“I am the way”) that we might come into his house where it is warm. Now Gunnard steps back from the door when I open it and the cold air comes in. No way does he want to go back out there- neither should we.
Grab! ------------------------------- Grab!
2) Gunnard ENGAGES everything and everyone around him. When we carry him he always has a paw out looking for some toy to latch on to. God wants us to actively engage Him- both corporately and singly. If only we had our hands out to him every opportunity we got! And what about all those people that God put around us to engage and love? Is there someone we can put a paw out to today?
Look how it goes 'round, 'n 'round, 'n 'round . . .!
Isn't he cute?
3) Ruth
and I enjoy Gunnard. God enjoys us the same way. As
we begin to enjoy God and his Word we sense his enjoyment of us. His
acceptance of us when our lives belong to him is a given, his enjoyment of
us is conditional- or in other words, if we want to stay in the garage, we
can.
And so
you see that Gunnard has a lot to say to us about
Christmas.
May the
Lord bless your Christmas this year.
Love, Neil and Ruth